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Website Design

HoneyComb


Honeycomb is a platform for renting and buying apartments . It provides personalized services to meet the different needs of Chinese people living in New York.





Role

Research
Product Design
Visual Design
Final UI
Project Type

Commercial Project
Date

Jan. 2022 - Mar. 2022




Research



Even in the pandemic, there are still more and more Chinese people moving into the US, for study or for work. The demand for rental housing never stops rising.


New York is the city with the largest Chinese population in the United States. The number of Chinese people living here continues to rise every year. But the NYC housing market is not mature yet; there is still plenty of room for improvement.


Survey Design

  • Method: Tencent questionnaire distributed among WeChat group
  • Quantity: 100 questionnaires

  • Goal: create user profiles; clearly understand users' pain points and rental needs; do cross-comparison to understandwhat rental information should be prioritized.


Survey Result

What’s your age?



How do you rent an apartment in general?



What is your reason for choosing this method?


What do you look for most when renting?



What is your monthly budget on rent?






Survey Analysis

Factors that influence user decision-making:




Insights

  • Price should be visible at all times. For example, in the search results, the price should be highlighted next to the preview of the listing. Reward and discounts should also be highlighted to draw users' attention.

  • In the search result of the listings, the nearby subway, restaurants, supermarkets or convenience stores should better be highlighted.
  • Show floor plans in a prominent place, allowing users to zoom in and save images.
    Show building overview, history, developer information to build trust between users and the building.

  • The search function should match listings based on [school name], [city name], [area name], etc. A more detailed search filtering system can increase efficiency.


User Personas




Competitive Study



User Stories




Summary

Target users know only little about NYC housing market, so they are wary and worried about fraud. It’s important to be professional and establish a reliable brand image. It’s also necessary to develop more network outside the website, such as chat apps, forums, etc.

Scarcity of time and money is a major painpoint. We should focusing on users' price sensitivity: listing prices are eye-catching, sorting listings by price, etc. Also we can provide hands-on services and remote services, online consultation, agent viewing, live viewing, etc.




Product Design





Local Schools 

Chinese people in New York City value a sense of belonging. They are more likely to follow what their friends, classmates and other Chinese people to make decisions. The website can recommend properties by school name to attract more users.


Detailed Filters

Users want to be special, and the more detailed the filtering function is, the better the user experience is. Detailed filters can help users find properties more accurately.


Convenient Consultation

WeChat is the most used Chinese chat app. In WeChat groups, users can get the quickest and most first-hand rental updates. We can connect customer service on the website to WeChat groups to create a better user experience.



Site Map




User Journey Maps





Wireframes








Visual Design



Moodboard





Color

I used indigo blue pared with a passionate honey orange color, conveying a sense of reliability, at the same time matchig the aesthetics of the younger generation.


Logo

Montserrat Regular Letter Spacing -25 Height +3%





Typography






Final UI



Home



Nearby School

Recommends listings near local schools that has large number of our target users: Chinese college students in NYC.



Popular

Smart recommendation of popular listings.





NYC Schools

All colleges in New York City, listed by the number of Chinese students, to met the majority users’ need.



Search






Search Bar

With shortcuts.




Typing

Shows all matching option; comprehensive and detailed.









Error Message

Shows error message if the input does not match any of the local listings.



Card Design

Price is the most important thing for our users.

Tag marks the highlight features of the apartment.
Shows popular schools near the listing and also the distance to the school.








Map

When the user hovers on property, the map will show the corresponding property in orange color.

Shows the price of properties in the map area, easy for users to compare and choose.




Filtering

Including school, room type, rent, and advanced filtering.




Apartment Details


Photos/Videos

Click on the arrows to browse through the images
or see the gallery.



Building Overview

Concise description that lists out key information.




Building Amenities





Floor Plans

Shows all room types, floor plans, total area, interior amenities, lease term, etc.








Indoor Amenities



Rental Application


Application Form

Required: apartment name, type, budget, and contact.

Optional: move-in time.

After submitting the application, a rental assistant will contact the user for next steps.








Loans

This section provides users with all payment parts and plans available.







Calculator

Smart calculator for users who would like to pay in installments.







All Devices

Desktop, Tablet, IOS












Backstage

For data upload and file management








Branding

For business use